I feel like my bodice turned out a little shorter than the photo... and the tails for the back know were a little too long for me... but in general it was a very simple pattern. I do wish it had given a little more detail on skirt panels... It wasn't difficult to figure out, but I think that they assumed it was so basic that it needed little explanation... which I understand.

The bodice is lined which I love... the birdy fabric is so stinkin' cute that it worked perfectly with this dress...

Turned out a little big in the bodice on my favorite little scrawny sweetheart... but she adores it anyway! I will tailor it for her this weekend!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Over the past eight weeks a lot of behind the scenes work has taken place to bring you this amazing bundle of ePatterns from several of the top pattern designers and bloggers in the sewing and blogging world. The result is a bundle of 18 PDF sewing patterns that you don't want to miss.

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If you've never sewn with a PDF pattern before, let me tell you how great it is! After downloading your pattern instructions and your pattern, you will print out the pattern itself, creating pattern tiles, if you will. Simply tape the tiles together to create the full pattern! At that point you can cut out the size that you need and pin the paper pattern directly to your fabric or you can trace the pattern size that you need onto sewing paper or tissue paper and cut it out, saving the paper pattern for later when you need to sew another size. Pdf patterns are so convenient because you can print them out as many times as you need!

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Saturday, February 2, 2013

We have a lot of close friends and relatives who are currently preggers.... Lately the Hubs and I have been thinking about kids, so my pinterest is full of kid crafting tutorials. I have been having a lot of fun making gifts for all our expecting mothers! Recently we found out that one of our friends is having a girl! YAY! There are so many cute girl ideas... I honestly have no idea what we'll do if we eventually have a boy... the crafts are just not as appealing...

So living vicariously through our friends I decided to check their pinterest pages for some hints as to what I should be making for their baby shower gifts... One cute idea I found was for a ruffled diaper cover (pinned via etsy... no tutorial) and a pair of lace leggings (again, etsy!)...

A while back I printed a diaper cover pattern from MADE. To be honest I was a little lazy and a little overwhelmed by the leg holes... But now having much more sewing experience under my belt I decided to give it a try.

I purchased a half yard of "Baby Girl" Kona Cotton from Joann's and 3 yards of lace trim ($2.49/yard).

Then I pinned the lace to the 'back' side of the diaper cover, and sewed each row before pinning the next... I just free-styled this, just making sure that the layers slightly overlap.﻿

When you're all done sewing the lace it should look something like this:﻿

The last layer was probably over-kill... I would definitely not add another... This should leave you room to finish the waist band later.

Sew the front and back together per the pattern... make sure you pin your last layer of lace out of your way.

I like to press my seams... just be careful because the lace you choose may not handle heat well and it may melt on your iron (I may be speaking from unfortunate experience)...

I don't have a serger so I rolled the top edge over by about an 1/8 of an inch before rolling it down the 1/2" for the waist band... I might have done slightly more than a half inch... again just free-style here... this will ultimately give your cover a more professional finish.

I do the same 1/8" roll over for the leg holes and then 3/8" for the leg holes... basically follow the instructions!... but the lace complicates things a bit... just roll with the punches and don't worry if it's not perfect.

I would recommend that you check the lace side of the leg holes before sewing... you can see that I pinned the lace in a really awkward bunch when I was setting up my leg hole casing...

Just re-adjust it before you start sewing like this:

Finish the elastic waist and leg bands like the pattern says... that part is pretty simple... my only tip would be to mark the sides of the elastic that you want to sew together before you thread it through the casing... that way you can prevent sewing a twist into the elastic... I also trimmed the lace here and there if I felt like it was going to look weird later... trust your gut!

When you're done, enjoy the new diaper cover... they're so simple and cute... and the lace is very forgiving so just roll with it!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

So this weekend I had a super creative spurt of energy and decided to tackle a project that has been on my Pinterest "to-do" list for a while now. I saw a pattern listed for sale at one of my favorite craft bloggers site. I was very interested in making it with my brand new sewing machine, only problem is I don't really know how to sew....

But, I got the Pattern ($8) and it was a 29 page PDF with 17 pages of colorful instructions that made it very easy to follow along. The remaining 12 pages are the pattern which you can print on 8.5" x 11" paper on your home computer.

(I already had white thread - so technically no cost)
---------------------------------
Total Cost : $13.52One towel was enough to make the largest size pattern (3T-4T) but I had to be VERY careful to lay all the pieces out just right. This robe was intended for my niece who turns 5 today! I made the largest size and tried it on a neighbor girl who is also 5 and it was very roomy - thank goodness!

Here is a close up of the hood - before I was 100% finished.... I went back and cleaned up the seam where the hood is attached. I also re-worked the trim - you can see I missed a spot if you look closely

Here is a closer look at the ties - I also lined them with the Ariel fabric... I think that 1/4 or 1/3 of a yard of trim fabric probably would have been adequate, but at least I had more options to maximize the number of Ariels that you can see... I love how the pink in the towel co-ordinates with the pink in the coral... too cute if I do say so myself! Oh, and doing the binding around the curve parts is clearly NOT my strong part... Seriously that binding was tough!

And here is one last look at the back side of the robe - I did the wrap all the way across the back, but I could have sewn in two straps at the seams where the back panel and the front panels come together... but I opted for the continuous look because I had enough towel to make it work.... Plus, you can't tell that the Ariel fabric is not continuous along the back, which is why I think you could get away with less trim fabric.

Well the metallic failed horribly... I think my biggest mistake was believing that I did not need a base coat of some other paint color first... the Ralph Lauren was sold as not needing it... but yea... LIES... Lies I tell you!!!

Anyways... I may have cried a little and punished the dresser by making it sit in the garage for a few weeks... no joke... I was unhappy!

Then, as Andrew tried to convince me that we should paint it yellow {and put it in my nice neutral living room} I was frantically trying to find something as a compromise... Andrew pointed out this really pretty gray color at Home depot...

Turns out it's called Pencil Point (UL260-22)... probably entirely too dark to go on the walls, but perfect for this piece...

Ever fall in love with a color and just buy it on a whim?

Well... that's what we did... 1 quart was just about perfect, and we spring for the Behr paint and primer in 1 latex paint ($15/gal?)... semi-gloss...

Turned out pretty good I think... I don't love it in the space, but it is so pretty! Here are the picts:

We sat it behind the couch in our living room... I thought it would be nice to use as a sofa table, and the storage set up inside is perfect for holding all the Wii components and Dvds... and maybe some board games in the future...

Plus swapping out the backing with a new piece that was half particle board and half white vinyl worked out great... I painted the back side with the gray paint... and faced the white side inside the dresser.... it looks so sleek!

I placed a runner and some lamps on the top and maybe some extra decorative accents in the future... we'll see! {and yes... the lamps are still in the plastic... waiting to make sure I love them (entire lamp by Target)}

Yay for being done!

P.s. Can anyone who's re-done furniture before help me out? We used latex and I swear I can't even look at this thing without chipping/scratching the paint.... ok, mild exaggeration, but still, it scratches easily! Any idea how long that happens for - please say not forever! :(

Monday, April 18, 2011

So Andrew and I are in the process of painting all our new spaces... one of the first areas we had to tackel was our kitchen... when we bought the house the kitchen was this mauve-y purple color called Poker Face by Behr...

So in the process of choosing our new color I ended up with 4 different sample bottles of paint... and they're all mostly full... seems a little bit wasteful!

And... our beautiful tile floors were seeming a bit bare.... so I decided to search for a green rug... and I found this beauty...

The rug is by Anthropologie ... It's 4' by 6' and costs a whopping $298!!!

Since I already had a bunch of sample paint I only had to pick up a few more cans and the rug...

This is the Egeby Rug from Ikea - $25.00

Each sample can of paint cost $2.94.... and I got:

Cyan- Behr

Blades of Grass - Disney

Bonsai - Martha

Gone Bananas - Valspar

In addition to the ones I already own:

Ryegrass - Behr

Oolong Tea - Martha

Retro Avacado - Behr

After taping off the edges I layed the rug down on some plastic in the garage and got to painting...

The first layer did not go well... I wasn't sure quite how to get the stripe effect... so I started by just pouring the paint on to the rug in lines and blending the paint from the 1/2" poured paint to about a 2" stripe...I wasn't really worried about overlapping the stripes or too much blending... it really in not about perfection...

Anyways, the first layer just got soaked up by the rug and was realllllllly washed out.

Oh... and then, when I went to paint the second layer there was water leaking from the ceiling... yikes! A few hours later and a huge hole in my garage ceiling... we figured out that the water line to the fridge had a hole in it and has been filling the space above my car with water and finally burst...

So Yay! We get to replace the insulation and dry wall.... but at least {after the 2nd coat} we ended up with this beauty:

It is not an exact match {smaller and has a border}... but I think it is a pretty close match...

And it is a fun touch of color for our kitchen... either in front of the sink

OR

Or by the sliding glass door...

It still needs the sanding step... the rug is pretty stiff... once it dries a bit more I will sand it to soften it up...

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

So after I applied a coat of primer I took a break and headed over to my local Lowes to check on the paint (and buy more primer - ugh who knew I needed so much!)....

Anyways... Andrew and I thought a lot about the color we wanted this dresser to be... the biggest determining factor was the final location for the dresser... I originally wanted to use it in the basement family room as a media console... And I thought a nice turquoise would work... but then I thought maybe in our guest room (since it is empty - aka NO furniture) and that it could be a bright red... but ultimately we decided that it should be used as a sofa table in our main family room upstairs and that we wanted something more neutral.

I thought this would be a good time to try something exciting like a metallic color! Lowes has a collection called "Brilliant Metals" that I found a pearl-y color that we both liked.

But when I went to buy the paint I realized that the price and work involved is INSANE! Okay... well, for a dresser that cost $40 I am trying to keep this a bit more economical! Here is the breakdown for the Lowes B.M. paint:

Then I thought about it a little more... a gallon is more than enough to paint the dresser and then some... maybe I could stencil the guest bedroom with this nice metallic neutral... but the process is prohibitive... you have to paint the base coat and then 2 layers of top coat a DAY later... that would take forever with the stencil!

PASS....

So the next day, after Andrew woke up (works nights - so it was 5pm) we went to the local Home Depot... On Sunday they stay open later AND we just got a gift card to HD so off we went!

I love our Home Depot paint department... there is one lady there who is always super helpful and she was working - it was perfect... as soon as we walked in it was like she could sense we needed help... So I showed her the paint swatch of the Lowes Brilliant metal paint and what look we were trying to achieve and wouldn't you know it - Martha also has a metallic line... which just so happens to be replacing Ralph Lauren's line of paint which is currently on CLEARANCE!!

The R.L. also works differently from the Lowes version - the R.L. has 2 options, a silver base or a gold base - which has the tint added to the metallic base of your choice... none of this double coat nonsense! I grabbed the last 3 quarts they had, 2 silver {which we had tinted} and 1 gold {to be tinted at a later date}. They were $3.00 EACH!Omigosh! The regular retail for a quart of metallic paint - regardless of brand - is $19 to $21... so this was a HUGE score!

I don't know what the color we had it tinted was, but I will double check and update with final pictures soon!